Rockland, Camden, Rockport and Thomaston have each been asked to contribute $1,650 for the study. Those communities would be in the expected route of any public transit system in the region.

Rockland Community Development Director Audrey Lovering noted the study would not be completed until early fall 2013. The group that has been meeting to start a local public transportation system decided that summer traffic needed to be figured into the study for it to be meaningful and therefore the study cannot be done this year.

The $6,600 in local contributions would free up $54,000 from the Maine Department of Transportation for the study.

The $1,650 from each town is not needed until the end of the year.

The Midcoast Bus Committee met Aug. 7 in Rockland to continue the discussions held over the past year. The Aug. 7 meeting focused on what the group wants to get out of the study. The organizers agreed that it needs to come up with recommendations on what are the demands, what should be the routes and what will be the costs.

One need raised at the meeting was transportation for students who participate in extracurricular activities but who do not have transportation of their own.

In past meetings, participants have stated that elderly people and adults without their own motor vehicles would be the primary users of any such system. The primary route mentioned at past meetings have been from where the proposed new Walmart is to be built to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport.